keith



(No Model.)

' 3 Sheets--Sheet 1. J. KEITH.

Sewing, Machine.

Patented Oct. 26, I880.

METERS, PHOIO-LITHDGRAPNER. WASHINGTON, D18.

3 Sheets-Sheet 2.

'(No Model.)

J. KEITH. Sewing Machine.

Patented Oct. 26, 1-880.

are '6 Z brne may M149" W/A N. PETERS, PNDTO-LITBOGRAPHER. WASHINGTON. D C.

3 Sheets sheet 3.

(No Model.)

J. KEITH. Sewing Machine.

No. 233,626. Patented 0m. 26,1880.

a M I 0 l I M 0 I a I W Invento NJEIERS, PHOTKLUTHOGRAFMER. wAsmNGYON. D c.

NITED STATES ATENT Erica.

JEREMIAH KEITH, OF PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND.

SEWING-MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 233,626, dated October 26, 1880,

Application filed March 22, 1880.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JEREMIAH KEITH, of the city and county of Providence, and State of Rhode Island, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Sewing-Machines; and I do hereby declare the same to be described in the following specification and represented in the accompanying drawings, of which- Figure 1 is a side elevation, and Fig. 2 a front end view, partially in section, and Fig. 3 a bottom view, of a sewing-machine provided with my invention, the remaining figures necessary to its illustration being hereinafter referred to and described.

The machine constituting my invention is for the purpose of performing the sewing of cloth orother material either by what is termed lock-stitch or chain-stitch sewing, the lock-stitch being mainly produced by the combined operation of a needle, a presser, a feeder, and a shuttle, having mechanism for duly actuating them.

With my invention a lock-stitch sewing-machine may be made to perform chain-stitch sewing, in which case, preparatory to the machine being used for such purpose, its shuttle is to be or may be removed from its driver and the additional mechanism be switched into action. So, in order to prepare the machine for the production of lock-stitch sewing, the additional mechanism is to be switched out of action, and the shuttle, if out of its driver, is to be restored to its place therein.

In the drawings, the needle is shown at a,

its bar or carrier at A. B is the feeder, O

the presser, D the shuttle, and E the shuttledriver, such devices being provided, as in most, if not all, needle and shuttle sewing machines, with mechanisms for properly operating them.

The sewing-machine exhibited in the drawings, with the exception of the parts I have added to it, is the well-known Singer sewingmachine, and consequently it becomes unnecessary for me to describe the mechanism for operating each of its essential elements other than the eye-pointed needle a, as hereinbefore mentioned. I therefore, with such exception, confine myself to explaining the additional mechanism for the production of the chainstitch sewing, which is accomplished by the said additional mechanism, operating in con- (No model.)

junction with the eye pointed needle, the feeder, and the presser, or such and the usual take-up. The said additional mechanism consists, in part, of a looping-hook and a cast-off, an under-side view of which and their support-plate is given in Fig. 4, an edge view of them being represented in Fig. 5.

Fig. 6 is a view showing the relative positions of the said additional parts, the shuttle, its driver, and the needle.

Fig. 12 is a front view, and Fig. 13 a longitudinal section, of the needle-bar A and its operative mechanism, the latter consisting ofa cranked wheel or disk, a, (fixed on the front end of the main driving-shaft b and also of a slotted cam, c, fixed to the rear side of the needle carrier or bar A, the said cranked disk having a friction-roller, d, on its wrist to enter the slot 6 of the cam. In each revolution of the driving-shaft a reciprocating rectilinear and vertical movement will be imparted to the needle-bar to cause its needle to pass down into and up out of the material to be sewed, all of which is well understood by persons skilled in the construction and use of needle and shuttle sewing-machines of the kind mentioned.

The looping-hook of the additional mechanism is represented at F as having its shank adapted and arranged to slide rectilinearly in a groove in a support piece or plate, Gr. There projects from the said shank a plate, b, which extends across the shank of the cast-off H, and is notched, as shown at c, to receive a stud, cl, projecting from the said shank, which also is adapted to the support-plate or arranged in a groove therein, so as to move rectilinearly therein.

Fig. 7 is an under-side view, and Fig. 8 an edge view, of the looping-hook and its notched plate, while Fig. 9 is an under-side view, and Fig. 10 an edge view, of the cast-oil.

The point or front end of the cast-off is arranged directly in rear of the barb e of the looping-hook. There extendsfromthenotched plate of the looping-hook a stud, f, which enters a hole near one end of a connecting-rod, g, (see Fig. 3,) whose opposite end is jointed to a bent lever, h, arranged as shown, and provided with a spring, 70, to move it (the said lever) forward. The rear arm of the lever carries a friction-roller, l, which bears against a cam, m, fixed upon the vertical shaft 12. ofthe shuttle-driveroperativemechanism. Bymeans of the said cam and the spring 76, applied to the bent lever, the looping-hook has imparted to it the necessary forward and back movements and intervals of rest, the cast-off being moved at the proper time by the action of the looping-hook notched plate upon the stud projecting from the shank of the said cast-ofi.

The cam revolves with its shaft and with the crank 0, projecting from saidshaft and jointed to the connection-rod p, for actuating the shuttle-driver or imparting to it its rectilinear movements.

The operation of the mechanism for forming the chain-stitch sewing may be thus described: Immediately after the needle carrying the thread may have passed down through the cloth and risen a short distance, as it does, in order to enable the shuttle to pass between the thread and the needle, the looping-hook advances or moves forward and seizes the thread and draws it back in the form of a loop, the barb in the meantime being retracted to the point of the cast-off, in order to prevent the loop from becoming detached from the barb.

' Until the next descent of the needle through the cloth both the looping-hook and the castoff rem ain stationary. The needle having thus again passed down through the cloth the looping-hook advances a little to allow the loop to pass upon the cast-off, which, during such advance, remains stationary. The loopinghook and cast-off are next moved simultaneously forward, the loop slips upon the cast-ofl', and the looping-hook again seizes the thread and draws it back, as before, and through the loop first formed, which is next drawn off the cast-off by the take-up duringthe next succeedin g rise ot'the needle. The operation being continued in like manner, the chain-stitch sewing will result, the interloopin g of the loops thereof being against the under side of the cloth.

Preparatory to using the machine for the production of the chain-stitch sewing, the needle, if standing too low therefor, may be set up or properly adjusted on its carrier.

The support and guide-plate of the loopin hook and cast-off may be fastened in place in or to the base-plate of the machine by anysuitable means, so as to be readily removable therefrom, as circumstances or occasion may require.

There is applied to the bent lever 71. a stud, r, which extends upward from it through a slot, 8, formed in the bed-plate of the machine,

in manner as shown at w in Fig.11, which isa top view of the switch for actuating the bent lever for the purpose of throwing it out of engagement with its operative cam. This switch consists of a cammed lever, t, pivoted to the bed-plate, and formed as shown, in order that, on the lever being turned into the position represented by the dotted lines in the last-mentioned figure, it shall so act against the stud as to movein a manner to cause the bent lever to be pushed so far away from its operative cam that such cam, during its revolution, shall not actuate the lever. This movement of the switch is made preparatory to the machine being used for tlrcperformance of the lock-stitch sewing.

In the process of making a garment it oftentimes becomes desirable to sew or haste certain of its parts together by a stitch that can afterward be easily pulled out, all of which can be accomplished by sewing them by the chainstitch, they or other parts being sewed or to be sewed by lock-stitch sewing, all of which, it will readily be seen, can be performed by a lock-stitch sewing-machine, as and provided with additional mechanism as hereinbefore explained.

I am aware that it is not new for machines to be made so as to be capable of performing either of the two kinds of sewing as hereinbefore mentioned, machines of such character being shown in the United States Patents Nos. 117,797 and 99,783 to Nicholas Meyers. I am also aware that it is not new to use a cast-off with a hooked needle and an awl in the performance of chain-stitch sewing; but I am not aware that before myin vention a looper and a cast-off thereto, as hereinbefore described, and mechanism to operate them, as explained, have been used with the eye-pointed needle of a lock-stitch or needle and shuttle sewing-machine, no cast-offsuch as hereinbefore explained to operate with a looping-hook being employed in either of the machines described in the aforesaid patent-s.

What I claim as my invention is as follows that is to say:

In a sewing-machine, as described, a loopinghook and a cast-off and mechanism for operating them, as explained, in combination with the eye-pointed needle, having mechanism for operating it, substantially as set forth.

JEREMIAH KEITH.

Witnesses:

R. H. EDDY, S. N. PIPER. 

